India-Japan
ties will get closer if civil society groups are involvedAsian age,
January 09, 2019

By Pradeep S Mehta

India’s relations with Japan are one of the most unique ones
covering trade, infrastructure and strategic issues in a wide
sweep. Its gravitas was visible during Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s visit to Japan in October for the 13th annual bilateral
summit, along with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan. Of the
many issues that were discussed, if we look at the strategic
connectivity spanning India’s Northeast with Southeast Asia or
even the Africa-Asia Growth Corridor, engagement with civil
society will help bring in well-grounded perspectives that are
so essential for the buy-in of local citizens and the success of
the partnership.While the identification of joint work areas is
still in progress, it is important to consider the need for some
evolving mode of cooperation between the countries.

Despite support from both Mr Abe and Mr Modi towards the need
for more people-to-people ties as a practical and effective
collaboration channel, the relationship mostly remains
government-to-government, pivoted on security cooperation and
strategic connectivity and seeking more investments, trade and
business. The need of the hour is to make more effective
investments in people by involving civil society organisations
at the planning and implementation level.

The India-Japan summit also took place against the backdrop of
rising pro-China sentiments in Japanese politics, due in large
part to the Donald Trump factor. Mr Abe met Mr Modi just a day
after his historic visit to Beijing, where he had discussions
with several top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping
and Prime Minister Li Keqiang. The discussions went as far as
joint infrastructure development in third countries.
Notwithstanding the lingering historical tensions, for Japanese
policymakers, China remains the biggest single threat to their
security and independence. And befittingly, Japan is keen to
nurture its international ties and build up an informal network
of the region’s leading democracies to create a “free and open
Indo-Pacific”.

India’s Act East Policy aligns well with Japan’s interest in a
Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). As the largest democracy of
the world and a major fast-growing economy, India plays an
important role in Japan’s scheme of things. With a shared
anxiety about being pushed around by China, New Delhi and Tokyo
have every reason to work together. Despite suffering from
falling popular approval ratings over cronyism scandals and
deflation, Mr Abe has been re-elected, scoring a hat-trick, as
the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He
is well on track to becoming the longest-serving elected
Japanese leader in post-war history.

Mr Abe realises the importance of stronger ties with India as
the key to maintain the balance of power in Asia. In December
2006, barely three months into his premiership, Mr Abe met his
then Indian counterpart, Dr Manmohan Singh, in Japan and
launched the annual bilateral summit series. The relationship
between the two countries has come a long way since then. In the
past decade, the two countries have deepened their strategic
ties. The incumbent Indian PM has now visited Japan three times,
which was reciprocated by the visit of the Japanese PM in every
alternate year. During these meetings, the two countries have
discussed various infrastructure and defence projects in and
outside India, including the India-Japan Compr-ehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the India-Japan Investment
Promotion Partnership, the high-speed railway project connecting
Ahmedabad with Mumbai, the nuclear project, and defence and
other security-related projects.

However, the scope of the India-Japan partnership goes much
beyond the Asia-Pacific region. The partnership can play an
important role equally for the African continent. In May 2017,
during the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meeting in
Ahmedabad, the two countries have pledged a whopping $200
billion for the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) project.
Support for this infrastructure project across two continents is
an attempt to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative through
an alternative multi-billion Connecti-vity Initiative. The AAGC
is formed under the Trilateral Development Cooperation
Framework, where two or more southern countries (South-South)
are technically and financially supported by a northern donor.
By linking Africa with South and Southeast Asia, this project
can pave the way for Japan to address its concerns on China’s
aggressive strategies. The project will benefit Japan as well by
leveraging India’s existing strong links with different African
nations.

These links include civil society organisations like CUTS, which
have extensive trilateral development experience and centres in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Capaci-ty building, technical assistance and
soft infrastructure development are key component of AAGC and
the firsthand experience of civil societies on the regulatory
regime, sound working relations with key decision-makers and
understanding of their style of work will help the project to
deliver its desired impact. The Japan Fair Trade Commission once
used CUTS’ services in conducting capacity building event for
the African competition authorities, knowing that developing
country knowledge is app-ropriate technology.It will thus be
crucial for the Japanese government to come out of its
traditional model of working only with the government and
involving more with civil soci-ety groups working at the
grassroots level. Similarly, India needs to adjust to the new
economic realities and decide the course of its own strategic
autonomy, keeping in mind the evolving dyna-mism in the
Indo-Pacific theatre.

As international relations are becoming a paradoxical mix of
competition and cooperation, the partnership of India and Japan
offers a much-needed nuanced approach, based on mutual interest.
The partnership affirms the intention of the two countries of
working not only for their mutual benefit, but for the rest of
the world as well. A more broad-based India-Japan relationship
can bring in prosperity and stability to the entire Indo-Pacific
belt, and much beyond.